Publisher: Valiant
Writer: Eric Heisserer
Artist: Adam Pollina
Colourist: David Baron
Release Date: OUT NOW!!!
Price: $3.99

Here’s the thing, Luke Skywalker’s father is Darth Vader. Sorry, should have said “spoiler alert”. Secret Weapons #0, just like any book with the preposterous #0 numbering, is a bit like that, being a prequel to events that readers already know well.

Prequel’s have an inherent disadvantage in that we already know how it’s going to end and need to say something really new and different to make any sort of impact. Sadly, Secret Weapons #0 doesn’t really pull any surprises out of the bag. To put it another way, Secret Weapons #0 is an ideal jumping on point for anyone not already well versed in Valiant’s Machievellian psiot activation plotlines. Of course, you’d then have to go back and get copies of every Valiant issue ever published and read them in sequence, so maybe that’s not such a good recommendation after all.

For those that know about such things, Secret Weapons #0 is Nikki Finch’s story and tells how she is recruited to fit into Toyo Harada’s vision for the future. For those to whom that means nothing, think evil Professor X and you’re just about home. When High School hottie, Nikki Finch is recruited by the Harbinger Foundation, her graduation test is a real killer, and I mean that literally, because only one in four survive the activation of their powers. Nikki is one of the lucky ones. Except that even after activation, no-one can figure out what her power actually is, so they send her to The Willows for further investigation. Nothing much seems to be happening and then a couple pigeons … no, wait, if you haven’t read any of this saga before, that really is a spoiler.

Suffice to say that Nikki is one of those psiots whose power seems idiotic and useless on the face of it but who will discover it’s not the power but how you use it that counts. Second string heroes making the big time is nothing new and writers may have to twist themselves into knots to make Nikki and her chums into believable superheroes but as a change of pace Secret Weapons #0 is pleasant enough, but, for those who are already familiar with the regular series of books, nothing much new happens that will sustain their interest.

Reviewer: Gary Orchard
Reviews Editor: Steve Hooker